What year is it again? A major price cut from iTunes last week pushed a bunch of Golden Oldies artists into the top 50 on the charts. Yes, Robin Tnicke is number 1 with his “Blurred Lines” album at 174,000 copies. But “Blurred Lines,” like Daft Punk and Justin Timberlake all sound like music from the 1970s. So it makes sense that the charts today from hitsdailydouble.com show a surprising resurgence of old albums. They’re all greatest hits packages. Otherwise, the charts are stagnant. And these artists and numbers reflect that music today is either terrible or not being made available to buyers, or both. Radio monopolies and pre-programmed playlists haven’t helped. And streaming is definitely cutting into sales both physical and digital. Jay Z and Kanye West have had disappointing releases. Mariah Carey didn’t come through. Now we wait for John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, and Arctic Monkeys.
This week at the nursing home:
#13- “The Essential Billy Joel”– 17,440 copies
#17- Rolling Stones “Hot Rocks– 16,335
#22- Creedence Clearwater Revival– 14,770
#26- Queen– 11,042
#27- Fleetwood Mac– 10,872
#32- Johnny Cash– 9,552
#35- Red Hot Chili Peppers – 9,441
#40 – Elvis Presley– 8,709
